


Fancy Another Flatmate

by JoMouse



Series: Tumblr Prompts [23]
Category: One Direction (Band), Zayn Malik (Musician)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Boys Kissing, M/M, Post-Break Up, Tumblr Prompt
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-09-10
Updated: 2016-09-10
Packaged: 2018-08-14 07:45:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,764
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8004238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JoMouse/pseuds/JoMouse
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Liam broke up with Zayn, but wants to stay friends.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Fancy Another Flatmate

**Author's Note:**

> This was based on a prompt from [this post](http://you-wont-zee-me-coming.tumblr.com/post/148879735432): We promised to stay friends, but we’re doing the same stuff we did when we were a couple and i don’t wanna point it out because i don’t want it to stop. I also included a prompt from [this post](http://josjournal.tumblr.com/post/149129315822/five-word-prompts): "Then what do you suggest?”
> 
> Hope you like it!
> 
> xx-Joey

Zayn moved through the flat to drop the bowl of popcorn on the coffee table. He grabbed the DVD folder, thumbing through until he found  _ The Avengers _ . He slid it into the player at the same time his flatmate, Louis, let himself in. He felt Louis’ eyes on his back as he stood in front of the player. 

“Movie night with Payno?” Louis asked, his voice careful. Zayn nodded. “Still broken up?” Zayn nodded again. “You do realize how fucked up this situation is, yeah?”

Zayn sighed. “Don’t start with me,” he said as he moved past Louis into the kitchen.

“You guys broke up a month ago, and, if I hadn’t held your crying arse in my arms for three days, I wouldn’t even know!” Louis snapped. “You still have weekly movie nights. He picks you up for classes. He even walked you home from work the other night!”

Zayn grasped the edge of the counter, his chin dropping to his chest as his friend shouted everything that he’d already thought himself. “I know, Lou. I know all of that,” he admitted quietly when Louis’ rant ended. “Nothing’s changed except for the way he feels about me!”

“Then do something about it!” Lou sighed, stepping up behind Zayn to wrap his arms around his waist, resting his head on his shoulder. “You can’t keep doing this, mate. It’s killing me to see you hurting so badly after he leaves without a kiss goodbye. Something has to change.”

“Then what do you suggest?” Zayn inquired, voice tired, tears heavy in his eyes as he turned to face his friend. “Tell him to never speak to me again? I can’t do that. Those three days he didn’t talk to me nearly killed me.”

The breakup had come out of nowhere. Liam had sat Zayn down, telling him that he just wasn’t happy anymore. He’d said he was afraid if he didn’t end things then, they’d end up hating each other. Zayn knew he could never hate Liam, but he’d come pretty close those three days that he’d cried in Louis’ arms, refusing to leave his room.

Then one afternoon, Liam had shown up at the flat, letting himself in with the key he still had. He’d walked into Zayn’s room, finding him staring at the ceiling. “I think we should still be friends. I really miss my friend,” Liam had admitted, settling himself on the floor next to the bed. Zayn had agreed, thinking that being friends with Liam was better than not being in his life at all. 

Now, he felt that was the best and worst decision he could have made. He loved being able to spend time with Liam, but he was constantly stopping himself from hugging him for too long or kissing his cheek or even just letting his head rest on his shoulder while watching a movie. He was always super tense by the time Liam left, would end up crying to Louis again. So, he understood his friend’s anger.

“Tell him the truth. You know it would kill Liam to know he was causing you any pain,” Louis said, opening the refrigerator and pulling out two beers. He twisted off the caps, handing one to Zayn. They headed into the living room, settling on the sofa.

“If he was so concerned about hurting me, he wouldn’t have broken up with me in the first place,” Zayn argued, taking a long pull from the bottle. “Besides, if I tell him, he’ll just stop coming around, and I’ll end up missing him.”

Louis looked sadder for a moment as he sat the beer down. “If he stops coming around, maybe you’ll be able to get over him.” Louis was uncharacteristically solemn as he spoke, making Zayn feel even worse. 

“Maybe I don’t want to get over him,” Zayn muttered, pulling his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around his knees.

“Well, it won’t matter much after next week,” Louis teased. “Ditching us all to travel across the pond for grand adventures.”

Zayn snorted. “You make it sound far more extravagant than it really is, mate.” Zayn had accepted an internship with a publishing company in New York. It would last a year, and he’d be leaving in ten days. To think, he’d almost turned the offer down, but after Liam broke up with him, he saw no reason not to get as far away from England as possible.

“Hey, you’re getting out of here; to me, it’s an adventure!” Louis told him, nudging him when the door opened behind him. “You know, Payno, you’re going to have to return that key when Zayn moves out!” he shouted over his shoulder as Liam made his way into the room.

“You’re moving out?” Liam asked, his face an eerily unreadable mask.

“And on that note,” Louis said, rising from the sofa and reaching for his jumper that was laying over the back of it. “I’m heading out with Harry. Don’t know when I’ll be back, so don’t wait up, snookums.”

Zayn rolled his eyes before tossing one of the throw pillows at Louis’ retreating back, laughing at the two fingers he showed him over his shoulder as made his way down the hall towards the front door. Zayn was still chuckling as Liam settled into the spot Louis had vacated, eyes still cautious. “Hey,” he said, smiling wide as he nudged Liam’s thigh with his toes. Liam grabbed his foot to stop him. “Figured we’d do a bit of a Marvel marathon, been a bit since we-”

“You’re moving out?” Liam interrupted with his earlier question, his hand squeezing Zayn’s ankle a bit sharply.

“Yeah. Moving to New York for a year,” Zayn answered, pulling his foot out of Liam’s grasp. “I told you about the internship.”

Liam nodded, turning his head away. “You ended up taking it.” His voice was quiet. “Good.”

“Well, the deadline to decide was right after…” Zayn trailed off, surprised when Liam’s shoulders started shaking. “Hey. You alright?”

Liam nodded, still not looking at Zayn, shoulders still moving. “Gotta go,” he choked out. He shoved himself to his feet, moving quickly around the sofa.

Zayn was too stunned to move until he heard the front door of the flat open. “Liam!” he shouted, climbing over the back of the sofa, landing in a heap on the floor. “Fuck,” he muttered, glancing up to see Liam’s back disappearing from view. Zayn pushed himself to his feet, reaching the door just as it was about to close. He slid through, finding the hallway empty. He looked towards the lift but saw that it was on the tenth floor. He turned towards the stairs instead. Pulling open the door, he stepped into the stairwell, surprised to find Liam sitting on the top step, face in his hands, choked sobs echoing off the walls.

“Li?” Zayn asked, approaching, grabbing for him when Liam jumped up, nearing stumbling down the stairs. “Stop. What’s going on?” Liam rubbed furiously at his eyes, refusing to look at Zayn. “C’mon. Let’s go back to the flat, have a cuppa, and you can-”

“I’m just gonna go.” Liam stepped down a few steps. “Just, drop me a line or something when you get back.” His voice as cold, hurt, almost angry.

Zayn felt like he’d been smacked, and Liam managed to get down to the next landing. Zayn hopped down the stairs, grabbing him again. “Hold on! Are you upset with me for going?”

“No,” Liam said. “You need to go.”

“Then what is it?” Zayn tried to tug Liam back up the stairs, pulling harder when Liam stood firm. “I’m not discussing this with you in the stairwell.” Even with his voice low, it was echoing off the walls, and Zayn had many memories of couples fighting in the stairwell waking up the neighbors at all hours.

Liam finally looked at Zayn, grasping him by the shoulders and looking into his eyes. Zayn tried not to let the sight of Liam’s tear-streaked face distract him. He opened his mouth to speak, but Liam beat him to it. “Go back upstairs. Pack for New York. Start living your dream. Forget about me. Just go.” Liam told him before leaning in and kissing him briefly.

Zayn’s eyes had fluttered shut when their lips touched and, by the time he opened them again, Liam was gone. Zayn ran down the rest of the stairs, but he couldn’t find Liam. When he pushed through the door into the street, there was no sign of Liam’s car. Zayn screamed into the wind, startling the couple that was walking past him. 

“Sorry,” he muttered before going back into the building to follow Liam’s advice.

***

Zayn was lying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling, listening to his new flatmate prattle on about her day. He’d quickly learned that the two of them had less than nothing in common, but at least she filled the silence of the flat and kept Zayn from overthinking. They’d been sharing the flat in the East Village of New York City for about six weeks, Zayn spending most of his time at the publishing company making coffee and running errands. She worked part-time as a model and the rest of the time at a vintage shop near their flat.

He liked the flat, it was set up almost identically to the one he’d left behind. He liked the city, the way something was always happening. If he wanted a coffee at two in the morning, he just had to run down the street to the fifties style diner. His flatmate was nice enough; she was friendly and neat, made him laugh sometimes. But he still missed London and his friends. And Liam. Most of all, he missed Liam. He’d tried to forget him, but couldn’t manage it. It didn’t help when he’d opened his box of books he’d brought from London to find the stack of photos he’d told Louis to burn. Or the constant updates from Louis about when he’d seen Liam. He’d asked Louis to stop, but he wouldn’t. 

“What happened to being friends?” Louis had asked the last time they’d skyped. Zayn really didn’t know what had happened, so he’d had no answer to give.

“So, be at the church at nine a.m., okay?” His flatmate’s voice broke through his thoughts.

“Pardon?” he asked, giving her a confused look when she started giggling.

“I wondered when you’d start hearing what I was saying,” she told him. “I’d basically planned our entire wedding and was just telling you when you need to show up.”

“Pardon?” Zayn repeated, starting to laugh himself.

She patted his shoulder as she rose to her feet, stretching. “Missing him?” she asked, quietly. Zayn nodded, part of him wishing he’d never shared with her about Liam. He’d forgotten how much it hurt to talk about him. He still blamed the margaritas she’d made with dinner that night. “Wish I didn’t have to go to work.”

“I’m good. Thanks, yeah?” Zayn said, rising to his feet as well. It was Friday night, and he didn’t have to work in the morning, so he wasn’t sure what he was going to spend the evening doing. 

He heard the door to the flat open, his flatmate making a squeaking sound and then hushed whispers. Zayn shook his head as he squatted down in front of the bookshelf, fingers running over the spines, trying to decide what universe he wanted to escape into for the evening. He finally opted for  _ The Giver _ , thinking a world with no pain, fear, or emotion sounded like a pretty good place to be at that moment. He was pulling the book off the shelf, opening it and beginning to read when he heard noise from the entryway.

“Forget something?” he asked as he crossed to the sofa, not even looking up from the book.

“Just how much I hate being away from you.”

Zayn froze, his head slowly raising to the source of the voice. His eyes widened when he saw Liam standing on the other side of the sofa, looking sheepish. There was a large duffle slung over one shoulder and the strap of a rucksack crossed his chest. He looked exhausted. Zayn blinked a couple of times before dropping the book and racing around the sofa. He stopped just before he threw himself at Liam.

“What are you doing here?” Zayn finally asked, looking at him, taking in the messiness of his hair, which looked as if it hadn’t been cut since before Zayn had left. The circles under Liam’s eyes were disturbing, and the paleness of his cheeks made Zayn worry. The worst was the dullness of his eyes, not even a hint of the sparkle that used to reside there.

“Was hoping I could crash for a few days,” Liam said, lower lip trapped between his teeth, and Zayn fought the urge to reach out and use his thumb to release it.

“What are you doing in New York?” Zayn clarified, trying to figure out what was going on. 

Liam fidgeted with the duffle. With a huff, Zayn reached out and pulled it off his shoulder, dropping it to the ground. He then removed the rucksack. Finally, he opened his arms and waited. After a moment, Liam stepped forward and collapsed against him. Zayn tried not to read too much into it when Liam’s nose pressed into his neck. He was pretty sure that the brush of Liam’s lips over his collarbone was unintentional.

“Leeyum, what are you doing here?” he asked again, running a hand over Liam’s slowly relaxing back muscles.

“Missed you,” he muttered.

Zayn swallowed hard, using every last bit of his inner strength to push Liam away from him when every last part of him wanted to pull him closer. “What?”

“I’m sorry, Zee,” Liam said, his eyes blinking and filling with tears, reminding Zayn far too much of the last time he’d seen him. “I’m so sorry.”

Zayn felt a small flare of anger at the way Liam was avoiding the question. “For what Liam? For breaking my heart? For messing with my emotions afterward? For breaking it again?”

“I thought I was doing the right thing,” Liam mumbled, staring at his feet. He shifted his shoulders as if trying to get away from Zayn, but he tightened his grip and Liam stilled. “I knew you were going to turn down this opportunity, and I couldn’t let you do that.”

Zayn blinked, the words sinking in. “You broke up with me so I would take the internship?” Liam glanced up through his lashes, his cheeks damp and pink. He nodded. “It wasn’t because you weren’t happy?” Liam shook his head. “It wasn’t something I had done wrong?”

“Oh, god, no!” Liam shouted, startling Zayn when Liam reached up to grab his wrists. “You’re perfect.” Zayn gave him a skeptical look. “You are! I just knew you needed to do this internship, you needed to, and you weren’t going to do it because of me.”

“I wasn’t going to-”

“You were! I heard you telling Louis that you didn’t want to leave me,” Liam admitted. Zayn remembered the conversation that Liam was talking about. “You told him that the only thing stopping you from going was how hard it would be to be away from me. You were afraid that a year apart would split us up. You said you’d be willing to give up anything if it meant staying with me.”

“So, you decided to prove me wrong by breaking up with me?” Zayn was incredulous. “What if it had backfired? What if you breaking my heart so badly had meant I would never leave my bed again?” Zayn realized that Liam was still holding onto his wrists, so he jerked them free. “Three days! Three days I curled up in that bed and cried over you!” Zayn stormed around the sofa, dropping down on it, before jumping to his feet again.

“I know. I know!” Liam shouted, coming around the sofa at a more measured pace, hands raised in a defenseless manner. “I did the same!”

“Bullshit!” Zayn snapped back. “You dumped me and walked out and then decided I don’t know - that you missed being adored or something, because then you show up wanting to be friends!”

“I realized I couldn’t stand not having you in my life. I hated being away from you. I thought if we could be friends, you would still take the internship, but I’d still have you in my life. You didn’t seem to worry about leaving Louis or the others, just me. So I thought everything would work out if we were just friends.” Liam shook his head, turning away to face the bookshelves, his shoulders shaking much like they had that last night they were together.

“Was it fun for you?”

“What?” Liam asked, a hand reaching out to run over the spines of the books.

“Watching me love you while you treated me like everyone else?” Zayn snapped. Liam’s back tensed, but Zayn was on a roll and wasn’t going to stop. “Watching me struggle not to hug you too long or to kiss you goodnight?” Liam turned around cautiously, his eyes bright with tears. “Do you know how much hell Louis gave me over that? How many times he told me to tell you it was killing me to just be your friend?”

Zayn could feel Liam’s eyes on his back as he crossed the room to climb out the window onto the fire escape. Zayn was sitting on a stair about halfway to the next landing, a lit cigarette between his lips when Liam finally stuck his head out the window. He looked slightly more composed than he had a few moments earlier, but Zayn still couldn’t help seeing how exhausted he looked. His heart softened slightly. “When was the last time you slept?”

Liam looked upwards as if he could see the answer in the air above him or, possibly, inside his own brain. “When did we have that last fight?” Zayn snorted, thinking that was probably when his own sleep problems had started up again. 

“You still haven’t told me why you’re here,” Zayn said, standing up, putting the cigarette out on the side of the building before dropping it in the flower pot full of water sitting next to the sill. He motioned for Liam to duck back inside, climbing in after him. Zayn was surprised how close Liam was when he straightened up from the window. With a deep breath, he moved around him, dropping down onto the sofa.

“I did.” Zayn glared. “I told you I’d forgotten how much I hated to be away from you.” Liam cautiously sat at the other end of the sofa, fiddling with his fingers. “I showed up at your flat to apologize, but you’d already left. It took me a couple of weeks of extra hours at work and selling some stuff before I could get a plane ticket.”

“What stuff?” Zayn couldn’t imagine a last minute ticket to the States had been cheap, and he knew Liam’s job didn’t pay very well.

Liam shrugged. “Just a couple of comics. No big-”

“You didn’t?” Zayn asked, his mind thinking of the copy of  _ Detective Comics #27 _ that Liam treasured more than anything. It was the first appearance of Batman, and Liam had saved years to buy it. Zayn had been the only one of their friends that had been allowed to see the comic, let alone touch it. Liam glanced at Zayn out of the corner of his eye, nodding. “Why?”

“Grand romantic gesture?” Liam said, scrunching his face up as if he realized how ridiculous he sounded.

“You sound like you’ve been taking advice from Louis.” Liam’s face flushed, and Zayn couldn’t stop the bark of laughter that escaped him. “Mate, you’re insane.” Liam frowned. “What?”

“Mate,” he responded, his voice sad. 

“It’s what you wanted,” Zayn whispered, feeling his heart clench, but he wasn’t sure if it was fighting hurt or hope. “You wanted to be friends, but…” He took a deep breath. “We were still doing the same stuff we’d been doing when we were together, and I was so confused.”

“Louis read me the riot act over that,” Liam admitted. “I didn’t realize it was as hard for you as it was for me; I was just glad you were letting me be in your life after what I’d done.”

Zayn turned his body on the sofa so that he was facing Liam, pulling his left leg onto the cushions. Liam mirrored the position. Their knees were close to touching, but Zayn held himself stiffly, refusing to let himself give into the pull he was feeling until things between them were a bit less confusing. “It was hard for you?” 

Liam nodded. “I don’t know how many nights I left your flat after movie night and stood outside your door wanting to beat my head against the wall for not kissing you. Every time we hugged, it was so hard to pull away, so I would just end them quickly. Like ripping off a plaster.” Liam frowned. “Then I would feel worse because I could tell I’d hurt your feelings.”

Zayn shifted a bit so that his knee pressed against Liam’s, smiling as warmth began to spread through him. He watched Liam’s face as he reached his hand out to place palm-up on Liam’s knee. Time seemed to freeze as Zayn waited, his breath held. A small smile crossed Liam’s lips before he slid his hand into Zayn’s, their fingers tangling perfectly together. 

“Think we can try again?” Liam asked, his voice hesitant.

“Being friends?” Zayn’s voice held a teasing quietly, but he was so afraid that was all that Liam was looking for.

“No,” Liam responded, leaning closer.

“I think we can,” Zayn said, leaning in as well, his words brushing over Liam’s lips. They fell into a slow, gentle kiss for a moment. When the kiss broke, Zayn moved to snuggle into Liam’s side. “When do you have to go back?” Liam didn’t answer, his teeth digging into his lower lip. Zayn reached up to pull the lip free before stretching his neck to kiss Liam again. “Leeyum?”

“Well, it might have been a one-way ticket,” Liam admitted. “Fancy another flatmate?” Zayn burst out laughing before nodding his head, feeling like things were finally going to be alright.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to come talk to me on Twitter or tumblr. I really love meeting new people!


End file.
